Glossary of terms

Glossary of terms used in the BREEAM certified building search

Building/Development

This is the name of the building that has been assessed and certified using BREEAM. Note: BREEAM certifies building assessments; some developments may have multiple buildings which may or may not have been individually assessed and certified using one or more BREEAM Schemes.

Client/Developer

This is the client, developer, occupier or owner on the building. Please note this can vary significantly across the various BREEAM schemes and buildings assessed under BREEAM New Construction are oftern registered and certified before eventual occupiers or owners are known. Therefore you may see a few gaps in information in this column - we do our best to maintain this but it is not always exactly accurate. Ownership and occupation of buildings can also often change without our knowledge.

Scheme

BREEAM is a BRE Global Environmental and Sustainability assessment standard for buildings; there are several individual Schemes for assessing the impacts of buildings at key stages of their life cycle (development planning, new build, in use, refurbishment etc). The Schemes are tailored to specific building types such as offices, retail, healthcare etc. For a full description of BREEAM Schemes, follow the link to the BREEAM website to the right hand side of this page.

Rating

Any building assessed against the BREEAM standard by a licensed BREEAM Assessor and certified by BRE Global receives a rating. This rating confirms the buildings performance against that standard. BREEAM Ratings range from Unclassified to Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding. A BREEAM Outstanding rating is the highest achievable rating and represents exemplary specification and design (Design Stage Assessment - interim certificate) and 'as built' construction (Post Construction Assessment - final certificate) - see 'Stage' below.

Stage

BREEAM uses a two-stage assessment and certification process. New buildings can have their BREEAM performance rated based on a design stage assessment (interim certificate) and post construction, or 'as built' assessment (final certificate). The Final BREEAM certificate is the most important as it reflects the assessed performance of the actual built asset.

Certificate Number

A unique reference number that identifies the BREEAM certificate to an assessed building/development.

Assessor

The name of the independent qualified and registered BREEAM Assessor responsible for completing the assessment of the name building.

National Scheme Operator (NSO)

National Scheme Operators develop and own country specific local Schemes that are affiliated to BREEAM. BRE Global is the National Scheme Operator for the UK and broader International and European schemes (BREEAM), the Dutch Green Building Council is the National Scheme Operator for the Netherlands (BREEAM NL), the Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia is the National Scheme Operator for Spain (BREEAM ES) and the Norwegian Green Building Council is the National Scheme Operator for Norway (BREEAM NOR).